Think big, start focused, and topple bowling pins one by one

A small snack company launched a fruit‑and‑nut bar with a promise that each purchase funds a meal for a child. Instead of trying to enter every grocery aisle at once, they mapped a simple two‑axis chart on a whiteboard, coffee rings and all. Vertical: where to sell, from online to local markets to national retail. Horizontal: what to offer, from one bar to a family of better‑for‑you snacks. They circled the first pin: online subscriptions to offices within their city where the founders had warm contacts.

They set a clear graduation line, 300 monthly subscribers with 80% retention. Hitting that meant they had earned the right to step into local specialty stores. They stayed frugal, kept packaging simple, and spent time sampling in store aisles, handing out bites and collecting emails. A buyer at a regional chain noticed the steady pull and offered them a pilot in 30 stores. They didn’t chase national chains yet. They wrote new thresholds on the board.

Each move reused something they’d already built: recipes, supply relationships, and email lists. When a gym asked for a higher‑protein version, they created it but only after confirming it fit their adjacency rules. Along the way, they said no to a flashy national distributor deal because it would have stretched cash and attention too thin. It was tempting, but the whiteboard roadmap kept them honest.

This focused growth mirrors diffusion models and capability reuse seen in operations research. By expanding through adjacencies, you reduce risk and retain momentum. The “bowling pin” approach channels ambition into a sequence of wins, each one making the next easier. The paradox is that you reach the big vision faster by starting narrower and moving deliberately.

Write a bold outcome vision, then sketch a simple two‑axis roadmap of segments and needs ordered by ease. Choose the first niche where your advantage is strongest and define numeric success that lets you graduate. Only expand when you can reuse most of what you’ve built, and set those graduation thresholds now so decisions feel calm later. Put the chart where you’ll see it each day and commit to the first pin.